D S al coda
by Calantha42
Summary: Sam and Daniel find themselves trapped on an isolated planet, struggling to survive an unexpected flood. Directly follows the episode 'Secrets' from Season 2.
1. Chapter 1

**D. S. al coda**  
By calantha42

**Summary:** Wound and corner any creature, and it will invariably strike out at the nearest target. Sam and Daniel find themselves trapped on an isolated planet, struggling to survive an unexpected flood.  
**Genre:** Drama, A/A, Angst, Sam and Daniel friendship  
**Rating:** 14+  
**Timeline:** Directly follows the season 2 episode 'Secrets.'  
**Author's Notes:** For mik100, um, Merry Christmas? Sorry about the wait, this story grew far beyond what I expected in both length and complexity. I hope you enjoy! I'm close to finished this story, and I'll be posting a new part every week. Tentatively, it's looks like there will be 12 parts in total.

This is also my first time writing anything past 5000 words so any constructive criticism and feedback is welcomed the way my cat welcomes tuna. Which is to say, far, far beyond what's reasonable.

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment.

**Part One**

Sam stood nearly a third way up a deep valley, her MP-5 resting casually in hand, enjoying the vivid spring view. A light breeze ruffled her hair and all the leaves in the trees surrounding her. She could definitely appreciate the temperate interruption to the boiling summer heat they were experiencing back in Colorado Springs.

The world was in full spring bloom with breathtaking views across the valley they had been steadily climbing. Near the bottom of the valley lay the gate, cloaked in newly budded trees. Near the gate was a twisting stream, which from her vantage point looked like a string of silver. Daniel was beside himself with the steady supply of ruins littering the valley walls. Apparently, they came from a culture long lost on earth, which had not been nearly so well preserved on their own planet.

Sam's primary involvement on the planet was concerning its potentially rich source of minerals and oil. Oil, of all things. Sam let that one go, confident that it wouldn't take the SGC too long to figure out a more sophisticated and cleaner source of power. So far, the naquadah that the Goa'uld used as their primary source of power looked incredibly promising. Until then, she could humour the politicians.

According to Teal'c, none of the powerful goa'uld took any interest in the planet, though he wasn't sure why that was the case. Both Sam and the Colonel suspected it was due to the steep terrain to both sides of the gate, and the planet's remoteness in the galactic scheme of things. It would take most ships far too long to reach this planet.

Right now Daniel was crouched near a conglomeration of stones, the fifth one they'd found today. He scribbled madly in his notebook, making vaguely pleased sounds every few seconds. A light breeze fluttered her hair gently, tickling her ear. Sam could enjoy history and mythology as much, possibly even more than the next person, but she truly didn't understand the appeal of this part of Daniel's job.

She told him exactly that, and he smiled widely. "I know exactly what you mean," He replied. "Calculus 201. I'd rather be eaten alive by mutant tigers than take that course again."

She furrowed her brow, imagining a super tiger with powers of super speed and invisibility. "But math is fun."

He raised an eyebrow. "Sure it is."

She scanned the surrounding area again briefly. The perimeter had been secured but personal experience had shown her that one could never be too careful off-world. There very literally could be tigers lurking about. All though it was unlikely they'd be mutants.

Except all she saw was trees and the massive valley wall climbing up across from her. A glance at the sky and she realized the clouds had become quite heavy.

"Hey Daniel – I think it's going to rain."

"Hmm?" He said, most likely not hearing a thing.

"It's going to get wet soon. Why don't we check out the caves again while it's raining, and come back here when the weather clears?"

He seemed hesitant to leave his pile of rocks, but grudgingly packed his things.

They were at the mouth of one of the shallow caves, a ten minute hike uphill from their previous location when Sam's radio buzzed to life.

"Captain, it looks like we're getting my favourite thing – rain. Where are you guys?"

"I thought your favourite thing was trees." Daniel interjected over his radio.

She smiled. "We noticed the clouds and headed back up to the caves. We're inside them right now."

As though it had been perfectly choreographed, the heavy clouds suddenly dropped a slew of heavy raindrops. Sam decided she was very grateful for the presence of the rocky overhang to keep her dry. The caves were barely one meter deep at their widest, but it sufficed. At least they were tall enough that neither Sam nor Daniel needed to crouch down.

"Sounds good. Teal'c and I are gonna set up some shelter down here and weather it out."

He sounded cheerful enough, but Sam was pretty sure he was bored out of his mind, guarding the gate while she and Daniel did their thing. The planet may have been known for being a goa'uld backwater, but that didn't necessarily mean their presence was completely absent.

It was only the second day out of a ten day long mission, and Sam knew if the rain kept up, the Colonel was going to get less than pleasant to work with. Luckily, however, Sam was going to be returning early – she had received a surprising phone call several days ago from her father, asking if he could visit her.

She was loathe to opt out of a mission, but both Colonel O'Neill and General Hammond agreed that she should take the opportunity to spend some time with him She really didn't want to dwell on the sinking feeling she got when she remember exactly why everyone was so accommodating and flexible.

But lying to herself wouldn't make reality go away. God knew he had been avoiding the whole thing long enough – she thought she might never have this chance to see him, his stubborn pride keeping him away until he died.

Of course, it had been unspoken between her and General Hammond that they would not be mentioning her abbreviated mission to visit her father. There was no way in hell he'd ever allow that – even if he did think she worked in Deep Space Radar Telemetry.

So she'd be returning to earth this evening, and once the planet was deemed safe (and really, they'd seen nothing beyond some ridiculously large squirrels) SG-8, the new survey team would be coming to accompany SG-1.

The Colonel and Teal'c had a few supplies and a tent down by the gate, but she and Daniel had the bulk of the supplies that they had brought from earth. Most of if was ensconced in the deepest corner of this shallow cave they currently stood inside. A weeks worth of rations for two teams, clothing, supplies, tents - it had been less than pleasant carrying all of it up the valley, despite the mild weather.

She'd already covered the immediate area around their camp for any mineral related areas of interest, so she sat back and let Daniel get to work at studying the little scribbles along the rocky walls. Hopefully this rain didn't last too long.

Several hours had past and Sam found herself becoming restless. The rain had only become heavier, and Daniel was too involved in his work to provide any conversation.

"Daniel, I'm going to do a perimeter check." It was, after all, standard operating procedure, despite the buckets of water falling from the sky. She pulled a crinkly poncho out from her pack and pulled it over her head.

"Okay," He said waiving a distracted hand, "Watch out for those squirrels. They looked blood thirsty."

She laughed and headed out, her MP-5 in hand.

As expected, everything was exactly as it was before, except wetter. She couldn't see any signs of predator animals or other people near by. But, to her consternation, her boots were not as water proof as they claimed.

She was surprised how dark the sky had become, given that it was still midday on the planet. This was one hell of a storm. Maybe the whole team would head back with her, and the detailed survey would be postponed.

The hairs on her back of Sam's neck all rose in unison. Her heart skipped a beat – she had no idea why. It felt...it felt like someone one else was here. She ran her gaze across the area around her. Had she seen something? Her hands gripped her gun just a little tighter, ready. For what, she wasn't sure.

She couldn't see anything but grass and trees and rain. She couldn't hear anything except the rushing water. Sam stood alert for several seconds, but nothing happened. Cautiously, she continued back to the cave and Daniel.

For a half second she had expected to see Teal'c step out from behind the foliage. She frowned. That was random thought.

Almost immediately, the feeling went away. That was simply bizarre, she thought, still unsettled. Maybe something from Jolinar's mind had been triggered, and yet again, she wasn't able to recognize the context of her response.

Sighing, she realized that was probably exactly what it was. Sam had not told a single person, but she was quite certain that Jolinar's visit had left a significant imprint on her own mind. Sometimes, she thought things, or remembered things, or did things out of habit – but they weren't her own. And then she'd have this jarring impact with her actual reality and a terrifying moment of dissonance when she realized that the two didn't fit.

She was nearly back to the cave when her eye caught a glint of light from out from the running mud. Metal?

She crouched down and carefully reached towards it. She felt a minor tingling in her hands when she touched it – it was an alloy of naquadah.

Wiping away some of the runny mud, she found herself touching a shredded piece of metal, one jagged edge exposed. Sam pushed aside more mud, watchful for any other torn edges. The metal was warped, and light, but completely without rust.

She moved away more mud and pebbles. Encountering another edge, and then a third, she realized it was at least a half meter square, possibly larger. One side caught her eye – it had rivets of a sort. She'd seen something like this before.

For a moment, Sam thought she was having another bout of Jolinar induced déjà-vu. Then she placed it; Apophis' ship, when SG-1escaped inside the gliders. This is what the hull had looked like.

She reached across her shoulder a pressed down the button on her radio. "Colonel?"

There was a pause.

"What is it Captain?"

"I think I've found evidence of a ship being here at some point, while I was out doing a perimeter check." She told him.

The radio cackled, and through a hiss she heard his reply. "You found a ship?"

She stood up and pushed back a wet strand of hair away from her eyes, streaking her forehead with mud. "No sir, at least not yet. I've found what looks like a piece of a ship's hull, and it's been torn off."

"So, crashed ship?"

"Maybe. Or just pieces of goa'uld junk left over."

"Snakeheads," The Colonel said, "damn litterers."

"Ok then, you go get Daniel and start making your way back. Between this and storm, I think we've just hit a string of bad luck."

Sam took a breath. "Actually, sir, if this is evidence of a crashed ship, I think we should try and find it. We could learn a lot, even from the wreckage."

There was a longer pause. Finally her radio buzzed in response. "Alright, go and see if you can find the ship. But don't take too long, Teal'c says that that little stream we crossed has been getting wider."

"Yes sir." Sam said. The stream had been nearly a half kilometre from the gate, so she wasn't too concerned.

She walked over to the shallow cave and went to get Daniel.

Daniel clutched the hood of his rain poncho close to his head as a particularly strong gust of wind pushed through the trees. His glasses were covered in rain, and Sam's blurred figure in front him looked like an impressionist painting.

He was doubly unimpressed. First at being taken away from the caves, because even a week would barely be enough time to scratch the surface of what this planet had to offer in terms of history, and second, because the weather was awful and he wanted nothing more to be back in the dry caves.

His early memories were of warm summers in Chicago and trips abroad to desert climates. Only recently he'd considered the arid Abydos to be his home. So while he could tolerate almost anything to a point, one thing he had very little patience for was the wet and cold.

But then again, he hadn't seen Sam so excited since before her brief time as a goa'uld. Really, he shouldn't be too upset, if this was the result.

The ship wasn't that difficult to find, once they were looking for it. A quick perusal from a particularly high point down over the valley revealed several recently knocked down trees not far from where Sam had seen the torn piece of hull.

She and Daniel hiked through the rainy forest down to its location, sliding every so often in the gooey ground.

The ship itself was only partially uncovered. It looked like it had crashed, taken down several trees in the process and then slammed into a soft sedimentary cliff. The impact had caused a land slump and most of the ship was covered in earth and rocks.

"How did we miss this?" Sam said, a little bit of awe in his voice.

Daniel was more than a little surprised as well. The outer hull was twisted, and the top almost entirely ripped off, but it was still huge. And the inside looked relatively intact.

"Colonel," Sam said through her radio, "we found a crashed ship. It looks like it was about 10 meters by 15 meters, but one side is almost entirely crushed. The inside looks like it may be still partially functioning."

"Goa'uld?"

Even though Daniel's vision was too blurred to see writing, the build was unmistakable. Sam recognized it as well.

"Yes sir, it looks like a Teltak." She said.

Daniel took several steps into the wreckage, even though Jack had yet to give the go ahead. He was confident that was coming soon enough, so there was no sense in staying out in the rain longer than necessary.

He caught Sam's expression of concern, but she didn't say anything. He raised his eyebrows and shrugged a little in response. What Jack didn't see couldn't hurt him.

Part of the ship was still covered, blocking the falling rain. Daniel pulled off his glasses and shook off some of the dripping water rolling down the lenses. He pulled of his hood and replaced his glasses, the surface fogging faintly.

Only one console seemed to be intact, the rest crushed and compacted. The preserved one however still had several lights blinking, and he knew Sam would be ecstatic to get a closer look at the power source. He walked around what looked like it had once been a chair, twisted nearly beyond recognition and tilted on its side. He took in the view. Definitely goa'uld.

He heard Sam's crinkling poncho as she approached from behind. As predicted, Jack had ordered them to check it out.

"Wow." She breathed.

He turned to see her expression. Her eyes were wide, several stray pieces of stringy blond hair matted against her forehead. It was nothing short of beautiful to see that kind of wonder on her face again. Daniel smiled.

"One man's junk…"

She laughed. "That's an understatement."

She made a beeline for the most intact part of the consoles and started looking for the release. Daniel thought this must have been what she looked like as a child at Christmastime.

"I wonder who this belonged to." Daniel asked absent-mindedly, running his hands along the gold foil writing on one console. It was the typical goau'ld 'bow before your omnipotent and beautiful gods' spiel.

"Don't know. I'm pretty sure no matter how much someone knows about goa'uld engineering, this ship is never going to fly again." Sam muttered into the bottom console.

Daniel glanced behind him at the giant rip exposing an entire half of the ship, streams of wind angled rain falling inwards and pooling in the depressions of the floor. "Yeah…"

"It's hard to believe anyone could have survived this crash, but if there were any survivors, they probably gated home."

Daniel took another look around, walking twisting slowly around the warped metal. "I don't see any bodies."

"Animals could have gotten here first."

"Maybe." Daniel considered that. Except there were no plants growing around and in the crash area and few signs of extended water damage. "This crash looks recent, though."

"This is amazing." He heard Sam breath.

One more look in her direction revealed an open console, with Sam sitting cross legged several multi coloured crystals strewn around her and multiple loops of wire slung haphazardly. She had pulled out a small flashlight at some point, and it was tucked under her chin while both hands held pieces or cord and crystal.

He decided his cave writings really could wait.

This was confirmed with Sam's next exclamation. "Daniel! There's an intact storage crystal in here!"


	2. Chapter 2

See part one for the disclaimer and story notes.

Part Two

"All right kids, it's time to go, now!" The voice fuzzed abruptly through the radio.

Both Sam and Daniel looked up from the slick rain covered hull from the wreckage of the goau'ld tel'tak. Sam had been deeply engrossed with her investigation of the ship for the past four hours, and during the entire time the rain had not stopped. Sam reached for her radio, her rain poncho crackling with the movement. "Sir?"

"But we're not done!" Daniel told Sam.

"Flash flood near the gate. Drop everything and run Captain, we don't have much time."

"Yes sir." Her hand dropped from the radio and she made a beeline for one of the exposed consoles on the inside of the ship. Her boots splashed in newly formed puddles as the rainwater pooled in all the depressions. "Daniel, help me get the storage crystal out. We're leaving everything else."

He rushed over, and crouched down beside her.

"Okay, I need you to hold onto this," she shoved a pale yellow crystal into his hands and then slipped her head under the console. She switched the configuration of several smaller crystals on the inside of the console, and it changed shape, opening a new compartment. She grabbed the yellow crystal out of his hands.

"My journal, my books…" He told her. They were all still back in the cave, further up the valley. She shoved in the crystal and then reached deep into the innards of the console.

"No time. From what I can see, this ship looks like it belonged to Heru'ur. The information on the data crystal could be invaluable."

Some wire-like things that were half pulled out of the console and still connected to the innards of the console were shoved into his hands. Sam plugged something in and lights flashed. He had no idea what was going on.

"Yes!" Sam muttered. She smiled widely, rain running down her face. In her hands was a melon sized oblong red crystal. "Let's go Daniel."

They ran as fast as they could in the continual rain. The entire landscape was water soaked and slippery. It didn't help that they were partway up a rather steep valley. The gate lay at the bottom, near but frustratingly inaccessible.

As the grade steepened they both began slipping more than running. They both skid downwards in a sideways gait, trying to keep their footing. Mud squished beneath Sam's boots, the ground sliding beneath her feet before she could balance.

Daniel slipped abruptly, but within a second was on his feet again, his right side coated in dark mud.

"Carter! Daniel! Where the hell are you?" They heard Jack's voice echoing out of Sam's radio.

Sam clung to the crystal, worried more about loosing her footing because the crystal could break than her own well being. From what little she'd had the time to see, this was incredible intel on all of Heru'ur's military operations, not to mention what he knew about his rivals.

"We're on our way, sir." She shouted into his radio.

"ETA?"

"Fifteen." She hoped. It was truly difficult to say given the water and mud. She could see the gate, a tiny grey arc peeking out from behind a large fir tree.

"The river's gonna reach the gate any second now. Hurry."

The route directly ahead became almost vertical in steepness. Sam diverted to their right, seeing the rocky terrain with a far more gentle incline, and no intervening trees.

Sam slipped forwards, loosing her footing. She pushed herself to the side with as much momentum as she could, forcing her shoulder to take the brunt of the impact, the crystal still safe in her arms. Daniel came up beside her and grabbed her other arm, helping her get back up to her feet, her entire side heavy with chilled mud. That was going to hurt in a few hours.

"Thanks." she muttered.

They reached the rocks, and despite the smaller incline, Sam realized immediately that it had been a bad plan. The rock, rough when dry, had proving excellent footing. Now that it was rain covered, it was slippery like ice.

She and Daniel slowed their pace out of necessity.

Sam glimpsed the gate from beyond the trees. They were closer. Behind her, she heard a thud and a groan. Swerving her head, she saw Daniel slightly up the hill from her, on the ground clutching his leg. Shit.

She rushed up to him and crouched down. "Daniel, where are you hurt?"

"Ankle." he said from ground teeth.

"Anywhere else?"

He shook his head.

"Okay, come on, let's get you up." There was no time to look at the ankle. They could do that once they were home. With her right arm she grabbed one of his arms and wrapped it around her shoulders. She held the crystal in the crook of her left arm.

The moment Daniel tried to put weight on his foot, he cried out, part gasp, part scream. He balanced against Sam, his breathing carefully controlled and muttering in a foreign language.

"Carter?" Colonel O'Neill's voice filtered through the rain. "How far are you?"

"Sir, Daniel's hurt his ankle. It's going to take us awhile to get back to the gate."

There was a pause before the he replied. "No time. The gate's already flooding – you guys need to stay on higher ground. Teal'c and I are heading back to the SGC before the gate's blocked."

"Sir?"

"Just hang tight for a few days until the water recedes. We'll be in touch, see you soon."

Through the trees, Sam was able to see the unstable vortex of the activating wormhole flare outwards. And then it was just her and Daniel.

They watched the river level rise meter by meter up the base of the stargate, safe from the vantage point of the top of a tall hill, nearly one kilometre away. From their perspective the gate looked like a single upright doughnut.

First the DHD was submerged, while the gate itself stood like an arch over the rushing water. Then, the swollen river flowed over top of the stargate, removing it entirely from their view. It took less than a quarter of an hour to watch the water creep up and eventually overtake the ring.

The bloated stream now seemed more like a river. It was dark and mud coloured, with bits of trees being rushed along the top, bobbing up and down.

Sam moved to stand up, stiff from crouching.

They were both wet straight through to the skin, the pounding rain rolling off of their stringing cold hair. Daniel leaned against Sam, keeping most of his weight off of his right ankle.

For several moments, neither spoke. They simply shivered in counterpoint.

"So, how long until the river goes down?" Daniel asked.

Sam shook her head. "I'm hardly an environmental scientist, and even if I was, I don't think we have enough data on this planet to know. It could be days, it could be months."

Daniel considered this. "Uh...months?"

"Yeah, maybe this place has a flood season. Or maybe this is just a freak occurrence."

Daniel sighed with a staccato as he continued to shiver. He didn't fail to notice that Sam was vibrating just as much. They were both too cold and miserable to engage in speculation over the nature of this planet's hydrology – a field neither of them was very familiar with. "At least Jack and Teal'c got home all right."

Sam gave a shuddering nod.

"Well, it doesn't matter how long it takes for the stargate to be uncovered if we both freeze to death today." Sam said.

Wordlessly they hobbled back several dozen meters to the shallow cave which contained all of their packs and supplies. It was barely two meters deep. Daniel leaned on her shoulder, limping off of his twisted right ankle. She couldn't be too annoyed with him. He was probably a lot more miserable than she was.

She made him sit down under a slightly over crop along a rocky wall which was a least slightly protected against the chilly rainfall.

Pulling out the tent from her pack as quickly as she could with numb trembling fingers, she erected it directly underneath the overhang of the most stable and driest of the shallow cave walls. Hopefully that would give them some additional protection from the rain and wind.

Daniel watched, sitting along the cave wall, his glasses foggy.

Once she was finished they shuffled inside.

They both quietly concentrated on becoming warm and dry for the next following hours. The sun was obscured by thick low clouds, masking the passing time. Only a gradual dimming of the ambient light hinted at a sunset.

They had long since changes into dry clothing, but Daniel could still feel dried mud clinging to his hair and skin. His ankle was throbbing. The tent itself was small, and there was only enough room for both of them to lie entirely prone, with a small strip of area for supplies at their feet. While awake, Daniel found that they had to watch for stray elbows and knees while stretching and changing position.

He watched Sam preparing two MRE packages on the sterno. Given that they had four people's supplies for five days, Sam had estimated that they could stretch the remaining food out for a month or more.

God, he hoped it wouldn't come to that though.

He absent-mindedly took the warm package when she handed it to him. It didn't matter that his feet were still damp and his entire body chilled. The MRE was still disgusting. Like rubber salty chicken. That glowed yellow.

Frustration settled into Daniel's bones. He chewed his food with violence, making his jaw ache. It seemed like every time he stepped through the gate he was seized by some kind of distraction or another, pushing and pulling him is chaotic courses. He needed to be looking for Sha're, yet now he was trapped on an uninhabited planet for the near foreseeable future.

Daniel turned his attention to Sam.

She sat with he back to one side wall of the cave, the last light shining though the tarp wall casting her features in an unnatural shadowed green. She looked lost. Daniel was surprised at the thought, but upon further inspection, it was the only way to describe her appearance.

Her face was closed; her legs were pulled up slightly and her shoulders slouched forwards, she looked so small.

He wanted to ask her if she was alright but he knew that would only keep her from saying anything. He really wanted to ask her about Jolinar, but he couldn't even figure out a way to phrase that question.

"Are you cold?" He asked instead.

She shook her head, even though he could see the goose flesh along her lower arms.

He shifted his swollen ankle, which he had raised up on his pack, a painful reminded of why they were both here.

He ran his fingers across his brow. "Hey, I'm sorry about slowing you down on the way back. It's my fault we're stuck."

Sam sighed. "No, it's all right."

There was an awkward silence. Daniel felt strange because with Sam there was never an awkward silence. When they had met, it felt like they we're picking up mid conversation and had known each other their entire lives- longer even.

"I hope I haven't made you miss anything important."

He noticed that Sam considered her reply, and he could tell she was going to tell him a lie.

"I was supposed to spend some time with my Dad." She confessed. "It's fine though, he'll understand."

Daniel wasn't sure which part of the statement was a lie, but he knew it was there.

"He's air force, right?" He remembered Jack saying something.

"Yeah, a General, but he's retired."

They went back to silence.

As predicted, Sam began to feel the effects of her tumble almost immediately. By evening she was impossibly stiff, and rotating her right shoulder induced nothing short of fiery agony. She didn't even want to imagine what kind of pain Daniel was in with his ankle. He'd taken an extra dose of ibuprofen, but she was fairly certain by the tight expression on his face that he needed something stronger.

Sam prepared her sleeping bag, the sound of heavy rainfall and wind in concert with the slipping sounds of artificially made cloth and zippers. Daniel had been lost in his thoughts for most of the day, and she didn't exactly feel like sharing her own.

She wanted to hurt something, or run until she collapsed, or maybe even cry. Her father had actually wanted to meet her for dinner and stay for a few days in Colorado Springs. To catch up. Now she was trapped here, for who knew how long and he could be dead by the time she got back to earth.

It took all her energy to restrain herself. Keep herself calm and collected. Even if there was nothing she could do about being trapped here. Especially because there was nothing to be done. It was a waste of energy to worry and let herself be upset about things she couldn't control.

Lashing out at her apathetic environment would serve no purpose. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

The words came out before she could consider them.

"My father is dying of cancer." She turned to her side and told Daniel. "That's why he came to see me."

Daniel met here eyes. His voice sounded so remorseful. "Oh god Sam, I'm so sorry."

As she settled in for sleep, Sam wondered why she told him that.


	3. Chapter 3

See part one for the disclaimer and story notes.

Author's Notes: Thanks for all the comments! The automatic alerts seem to be down this week so I'm sorry I wasn't able to respond individually.

**Part Three**

Daniel lifted his gaze and realized that the ceiling was covered with glowing symbols suspended in the air - the universal language. He was in Heliopolis, he had another chance to find out the secrets that had been recorded ten of thousands of years ago. For a second, he was overwhelmed.

Just as he was about to decipher the first of tantalizing bit of ancient knowledge, he heard the footsteps of an approaching person. He felt a flash of frustration.

"Jack, I can't go back. I have to find out what this means." He swerved to face the person, but he found himself face to face with Shyla, from the mining planet with the sarcophagus.

She was dressed in the same elaborate dress as when he had woken up from his first trip into her father's sarcophagus. The pale pink fabric with beads draped thickly around her collar was etched into his brain. She seemed so bright, her breath echoing in his ears.

"What are you doing here?"

She smiled and didn't reply. Instead, she grabbed his hand and pulled him from the room. Daniel found himself unable to make his muscles disagree. Instead, his body followed without his mind's instruction.

"I need to find out what that says." he told her. He reached up to touch his face and realized he wasn't wearing his glasses.

"I know." Her hair smelled like heavy flowers and her hands were clammy against his.

He found himself being led into the cavernous room which held the stargate and its broken DHD. Beside the DHD lay a golden sarcophagus, the lid sealed. To the side of the room was an inactive FRED.

Shyla leaned against his shoulder, and sighed with pleasure. She looked upwards, and Daniel followed her gaze. The entire area above them was flooded with ancient symbols in dozens of different languages. This was three lifetimes of work, at least. Just as he was going to start trying to read them, he heard the thudding sounds of the gate powering up.

"No…" Daniel's heart hammered at the thought of having to exist without knowing what this all meant.

The event horizon flushed outward and with seeming magic, the MALP came to life, moving and clicking. A radio buzzed and then he heard Jack's voice.

"Daniel. You've gotta come back."

Daniel fought the urge to take the biggest rock he could find and bash it into the MALP radio.

"I'm staying."

"Daniel, come and look at the video screen." Jack replied.

Reluctantly, Daniel made his way over to the MALP. He looked into the screen and saw a huge blurry image of Jack's face. "Jack, what the hell-"

Jack moved out of frame. And it was Sha're, in the gate room dressed in BDUs, smiling. Not Ammonet, but Sha're.

"Dani-el." She spoke. "Come, please. I need the sarcophagus. Please, help me."

He blinked rapidly. "Okay, okay. I will. Stay exactly where you are, don't go anywhere."

He moved towards the closed sarcophagus, still uncertain how he was going to get it back to Earth. But how was only an incidental question. He only knew that he had to do this. No other option was acceptable.

Shyla's hand clamped around his arm. "Daniel, where are you going?"

"Let go!" How was her grip so strong?

"Don't you love me?" Shyla's eyes filled with water.

"What?" He loved Sha're.

There was a quiet grinding noise as the doors to the sarcophagus slowly parted. The box itself emitted a dull light, and Daniel watched the silhouette of a woman step out.

He stepped as far towards her as he could, Shyla keeping a tight grip on his arm.

The woman stepped away from the sarcophagus and into the ambient light of the alien text suspended above. He recognized the gold hair and wide eyes immediately.

"Sam." he breathed with relief. She would help him get the sarcophagus to Sha're.

"I can give her back to you." Sam's voice resonated on deep octave and her eyes flashed.

"Jolinar? What about Sam?" Daniel asked, his stomach sinking.

"I'm not talking about Samantha, Daniel, I'm talking about Sha're. I know where she is."

He had heard this before, but he couldn't remember when. It didn't fit, it wasn't right.

"I already know where Sha're is! She's at the SGC, and I need to get back to her. I need to take the sarcophagus back to help her!"

"No! Stay with me! I love you Daniel." Shyla cried, and impossibly tightened her grip.

The alien in Sam's body walked slowly towards him, her eyes never leaving his. She stopped when there were only centimetres between their two bodies, and he could feel her breath on his neck. She took one arm and wrapped it behind the back of his head, threading her hand through his hair. His breath caught in his throat. She tilted her face and brought it forward and he was certain she was going to kiss him.

Instead, her cheek against his, she brought her lips to his ears and whispered in Sam's normal timbre, "I'm talking about Sha're. I know where she is."

Daniel's chest shook with the beating of his heart. He blinked and then realized with horror that he wasn't intimately close to Sam. The woman before him had cold eyes and straight fiery hair. Her eyes were framed in thick black strokes, they flashed gold, like Sam's but so much emptier.

"We have chosen you, Daniel Jackson."

Hathor.

"You will be our next Pharaoh." She smiled.

He couldn't move. He couldn't even think, but his mind was impossibly entangled. Daniel couldn't breathe.

In that instant, there was a simultaneous crash of thunder and flash of lightning. The building itself cracked apart, the screaming of rocks underscoring the echoing thunder. The gate was falling out from the floor that had collapsed in front of his eyes.

Hurricane winds soaked with icy water whipped his hair chaotically. Shyla and Sam and Hathor were all gone and somehow Daniel knew with certainty that Sha're was dead.

And then Daniel was flat on his back, his heart pushing on his chest, the howling wind pushing against the tent wall haphazardly. It was a dream. He closed his eyes - Sha're wasn't dead, he still had his chance. It wasn't over, Sha're wasn't dead.

Of course it had been a dream, he realized. It had been grotesquely random, and yet disturbingly vivid. But not real. It wasn't real.

He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. Turning on his side, he opened his eyes again to see indistinct shadows making out the form sleeping figure of Sam. Her lax form was completely incongruous with terror – it was all in his head. For a brief moment he contemplated waking her, but he rejected that notion immediately. What, really, would he say?

He knew what he wanted to say. He wanted to make her understand that he needed to know about Sha're. All she wanted to do was try and pretend as though her possession had never happened.

He concentrated on breathing.

It had been more than six months since she had been taken as a host, and never once had she brought up the subject with him. He knew she remember at least some of the experience – several terse comments to Jack and General Hammond had led him to surmise as much. Did she remember what Jolinar knew concerning Sha're?

And initially, he was far too afraid to bring it up. She had seemed too fragile after Jolinar had died, not speaking or eating or even moving. Any misstep could have been destroyed her. For a sickening few days, the doctors weren't even sure if it was mental trauma or neurologic damage, or a mixture of both was causing her withdrawn behaviour.

He'd gone to visit her several times in that first week, flowers and books in hand. Sam had lain on her side, her eyes unfocused, despite any attempts to make her respond. Daniel remembered bringing flowers and trying to think of something to say, all while trying very hard not to think about how much she resembled a discarded puppet.

She had been a host for less than a week and even that short amount of time had left her dramatically damaged. Sha're had been captive for so much longer…he still hadn't been able to save her. He needed to know if there was even a Sha're left to save.

And then, some time shortly after Cassandra's visit, Sam was suddenly Sam again, as though nothing had happened.

At first, it didn't even occur to him to be curious about her experience. She was back and cured and the whole ordeal had been overcome. It was a relief to know that complete recovery was possible.

She never mentioned the event, and for the most part, seemed unaffected. Except for those stray moments that Daniel would catch in the corner of his eye. Sometimes, she would stand, looking completely lost, as though she was standing in the wrong story, or thinking thoughts that belonged in another character's head.

But the instant, she would be back to Captain-Doctor Samantha Carter, intergalactic explorer. Only a trained eye could have seen that most of that was an act – a very familiar act, but fundamentally no longer true.

Several weeks ago, standing amidst the phosphorescent vines on Kyra's prision world, he caught her gaze during one of these moments. There was a brief flash of panic in her eyes. Daniel knew that panic was reflected back in his own. Neither of them had ever mentioned it.

He really should ask her one day what it was like, how she was dealing with the whole thing. But he knew she didn't want to talk about it. And if he was perfectly honest, he was afraid to mention it.

He watched her slow breathing until he eventually fell into a light sleep.

Daniel woke with a start. Something wasn't quite right. What had woken him up?

Sam muttered quietly in her sleep, and something about that seemed wrong. She kept repeating a two syllable word. Her volume increased, and Daniel realized she was having a nightmare.

"Kelpak, kelpak"

Did he hear correctly?

"Kelpak, Lantash?"

_Where are you, where are you Lantash..._She was speaking in goa'uld. He was frozen in his sleeping bag, morbidly curious to hear more.

"Ne'nai." she groaned. _No, stop._

"Kelpak Lantash." she repeated, tossing restlessly, her breathing ragged. Daniel knew he should wake her up. "Ne'nai...ne'nai..."

"KEEST'RA! _LANTASH KEEST'RA_!"

In less than a second Daniel had his upper body out of his sleeping bag, and his arms shaking Sam's shoulders. He was well aware that she would probably lash out at him before she realized where she was, but he couldn't think beyond waking her up. Hearing Sam scream like that was absolutely chilling.

"Wake up! Sam, you're dreaming. Wake up."

She struggled against him for a moment, and then became very stiff. Without thought, he pulled her into an embrace. Daniel could barely hear the sounds were the rain hitting the tent over both of their gasping breaths and the galloping of their hearts.

"Daniel..." Sam said quietly.

He loosened the embrace and settled back onto his own sleeping bag. Reaching to his side he pulled out a flashlight and turned it on.

Sam ran a trembling hand through her hair and shook her head. "God, I'm so sorry. I guess...a nightmare. I'm sorry Daniel. I didn't mean to scare you."

Her gaze flittered nervously across the shiny tent wall.

"You don't have to apologize, Sam. But that was some nightmare - it sounded like you were being murdered..." He noticed she became very still. "Was that what you dreamed about...?"

She shook her head. "I don't remember it."

"Who's Lantash?" He asked.

She whipped her head to look straight at him. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her expression confused. "Lantash...? I don't...I don't know. Why do you ask?"

Daniel studied her face. He didn't think she was lying. "You were talking in your sleep."

"Really?" She shook her head. "That's pretty strange. I don't usually do that. But then again, I don't – well, I don't usually do any of this at all."

"Yeah, but what's really strange was that you were speaking in goa'uld."

She paused for a moment. "No, that's impossible. I barely know two phrases in goa'uld. You know that - I'm terrible at learning languages." She slipped back into her sleeping bag and shut her eyes.

Daniel stared at her but didn't say anything.

The morning came slowly, the rain falling at the same steady tempo as the night before. The temperature however had dropped several degrees and was approaching freezing.

Sam's first move had been the look out down the valley to see if she could spot the gate. But the river was even more swollen than it had been the day before. Anger fluttered briefly in her chest. She wanted to see father.

Inside the tent Daniel had combed his untidy hair, and was sitting on his sleeping bag. He had the red crystal in his hands, his concentration focused. His glasses sat at the tip of his nose, and he seemed oblivious to how far they had slid down. Sam smiled involuntarily at how endearing he looked.

Without looking up, he asked, "So?"

"No luck." Sam unlaced her sopping combat boots, eager to change into dry socks.

"At the ship, what information did you see stored in the crystal?" Daniel asked.

"Everything. You don't know how important this will be – it's got information on all of Heru'ur's upcoming moves, what looks like a complete listing of his army, supplies and strengths, not to mention a ton of intel on all of Heru'ur's enemies."

"Like Apophis?"

Sam nodded. "Yup. Among others."

"Anything about…about Ammonet?"

Sam hadn't even thought of that. She felt a twinge of guilt.

"Maybe," she said slowly, "but I didn't see anything while we were in the ship."

Daniel nodded. He looked at the crystal, and back up at her, as though he was deducing some elaborate connection between the two. Sam had long ago resigned herself to the fact that she would never understand quite how Daniel Jackson's mind worked. But there was something about the way he was regarding this morning that made her feel uneasy. She pushed the notion aside.

The rain provided a kind of white noise after awhile.

Sam rewrapped the ace bandage on Daniel's ankle. She was pleased to see that it wasn't more swollen than the night before, and probably not broken. It still looked painful though.

"This'll be fun once the river recedes," she joked. Thank god it was only a sprain – she didn't know if she could set a teammate's bone ever again after Antarctica.

Daniel smiled a little, but said nothing.

They each kept to themselves for most of the morning. By noonish (stargate induced jetlag was a very complicated affair) Sam was going stir-crazy. There was nothing to do except wait, and think about the data crystal, and try not to picture her father's face when she didn't show up.

Daniel had spent several hours scribbling in his journal which was remarkably intact given the amount of rain they had encountered. For the last hour, however, he had been staring at the wall of the tent.

She found herself watching him, unsure why. Something felt different today. This morning, her perception of him seemed different. She was noticing things she hadn't really paid too much attention to – the arch of his neck, the gentle swell of muscles on his fore-arm that flexed slightly when he wrote in his journal.

She had always been drawn to more stereotypically dominant, physically assertive men. It was a pattern she'd notice fairly early in her life; though why that might be was something she'd rather not contemplate. Daniel was someone she had loved on a purely mental and spiritual level long before she had even met the man – all it had taken was reading the Abydos mission reports and hearing stories about how he solved the mystery of the gate. But physically, academic types had never really been the men she noticed.

And now she had woken up this morning with the overwhelming awareness of his physical presence.

The strangest part was that when he noticed her gaze and met her eyes, it seemed wrong. She was expecting someone else's face. Internally, she sighed. This was nonsense. It was the same Daniel as ever, if a little more withdrawn than usual. But who could blame him given recent events? She couldn't even imagine how difficult it must have been to have had Sha're _right there_ within arm's reach, just to loose her again.

Ah yes, she reminded herself. He's married, too.

Sam wished she could distract herself in conversation but right now she couldn't think of a subject to bring up.

The crystal obviously was connected with Sha're in Daniel's mind. And she really didn't want to talk about herself right now – the only thing on her mind right now was the fact that her father was in Colorado Springs and she wasn't. Oh yes, and how her perception of Daniel had somehow shifted overnight for absolutely no discernable reason. Neither of which were on her list of things to discuss. Ever.

They could talk about the weather. Sam actually chuckled under her breath.

"What?" Daniel blinked owlishly, like he was waking up.

"Oh, nothing." He kept his inquisitive gaze. "Ok, well I was just thinking about how ironic it is that we'll talk right through the night when we _should_ be sleeping, but when we have all day, we just sit around and say nothing. So how about this rain?"

He laughed, and Sam felt better.


	4. Chapter 4

See part one for the disclaimer and story notes.

Author's Notes: I'm very sorry about the late update. I unexpectedly found myself moving to a new apartment, so this fic fell to the side for a little while. The next chapter will be beta read and posted in two weeks.

**Part Four**

The wind had picked up outside and a faint howling could be heard echoing through the valley. The sides of the tent waved in and out ever so slightly with a dull popping noise.

"Did you ever want children?" Daniel asked without preamble. It was a personal question, but on a subject he desperately needed to discuss. He knew he could trust Sam.

"What?" Sam sounded surprised.

"I mean, someday, eventually. Did you ever want to raise a family?"

Sam took a few seconds to consider the question. "A long time ago, maybe. When I was a little kid, I wanted to be like my Dad and have a little boy and girl of my own. But I changed my mind when I realized if I had children, I was going to be the one stuck at home." She shrugged. "I had other goals, I didn't really see how I could do both."

"And now?" Daniel prompted.

Sam chuckled. "Don't be ridiculous, it would be insane for me to try and be a mother with my job. And besides, I'm still missing that integral male contribution."

Daniel smiled. "I'm sure you could find someone, Sam."

"I tried to adopt Cassie. Did I ever tell you that?"

"Wow." Daniel raised his eyebrows. "No, you didn't. But I'm not surprised…"

"Yeah…" Sam eyes looked suspiciously shiny. "My job was too unpredictable. I had no house, or yard, or experience with children…"

Or spouse, Daniel mentally added for her when she paused again.

There was a high pitched burst of wind and the tent wall ballooned inwards enough to touch Daniel's elbow.

"I'm sorry." He leaned over and ran his arm along her arm. She leaned into him ever so slightly.

"It was probably for the best." She sighed. "I don't think I'd be a very good mother anyway."

Daniel opened his mouth to disagree, but was interrupted by Sam.

"What about you, Daniel? Why are you wondering about this?" She smiled and her voice seemed just a little tighter. He understood that she was done talking about the subject. From the way she was scrutinizing his own face, he knew that she was fully aware that he wasn't simply making idle conversation.

"Me…um. Well, I never really thought about it. Too busy thinking about people who lived a long time ago."

"But…?" Sam could be insightful at times. Or perhaps Daniel was simply easy to read.

"Sha're wanted children. Adored them, wanted at least five." He didn't know why he was telling Sam about this, things he had never told anyone or ever written into words. These were things that didn't seem expressible.

Maybe it was exactly because he was sure Sam couldn't understand. It wouldn't matter so much when it came out flawed

He wasn't surprised when Sam didn't respond. She never did know how to respond to conversations like these, and he understood that about her. He even appreciated it.

"She was really good with kids too." He continued. "I don't know why she didn't conceive during the one year…"

Except that he did now. She had a child now – the harceisis. It was him, not her. It felt twisted that he could resent an innocent baby so much. Inhuman. The whole thing was twisted.

"I'm sorry… I don't know why I told you this."

"No," Sam said in a low voice. "It's ok. I'm sorry."

She reached out and took one of his hands gently. Maybe she did understand, at least a little.

Endless more hours passed without event. The rain persisted.

Sam was in the middle of stretching her stiff arm muscles when Daniel began speaking.

"How much did you experience when Jolinar was inside you?" He rushed out before he could stop himself. It was simply driving him crazy not knowing. Sam _had_ to understand how important this was to him.

Immediately her entire posture stiffened.

"Daniel." The word was tense and absurdly controlled. A warning.

"I have to know." Sha're…

"I can't -" She fought for words. "I don't know…it…"

He knew she was an articulate person. Why wasn't she willing to put this into words? He wouldn't ask if it wasn't necessary. Of course it was painful for her to relive, but didn't she understand how much more awful it was for Sha're? He heard her speaking Goa'uld in her sleep. If she learned an entire language, what else did she know?

_I know the location of Ammonet._

Maybe Jolinar had simply been telling him what he wanted to hear in order to get his way. Or maybe it was true. If Sam could just tell him that - anything.

"I'm not going to talk about this Daniel." She managed. "Not here."

Daniel out an exasperated huff and caught himself from replying right away.

With exaggerated restraint, he asked, "Alright, when?"

"I don't know." It sounded just a little desperate. He could hear the unspoken 'never.'

The rain was still pounding a constant rhythm on their little tent as the light began to dim for their second evening of being cut off from the gate. Sam kept her gaze against the one side of the tent, her back to Daniel. She could feel his scrutiny boring into the back of her head.

It was unsettling, but for whatever reason, Daniel's intense scrutiny made her nerves jangle, as though she was being watched, unaware. Which was silly, because she knew exactly which eyes were boring their way through the back of her head.

She was preparing dinner again, which consisted of boiled water and MRE's – again. The task took all of three minutes, but even that provided some relief.

The pressure was overwhelming and Sam wanted nothing more than to be away. Somewhere, anywhere else. Unfortunately the icy rain and wind left her completely trapped. She didn't want to talk to Daniel, she didn't want to engage in any kind of introspection right now, all she wanted was to do something.

She couldn't believe this was only their second night of being stranded.

As she worked, she kept a shiny thermal blanket draped over her shoulders, despite the awkwardness it created. The temperatures had dropped again, and it was cold enough to make her nose and cheeks numb. It was only the combined body heat of herself and Daniel that kept the temperature in the tent above freezing.

She hand a warm package to Daniel and took one for herself. She yearned to be eating a real meal right now, on the patio of an upscale restaurant in Colorado Springs, surrounded by a warm summer breeze. She wondered if her Dad had bothered to stick around Colorado Springs for few days, maybe to catch up with some old friends in the air force. Or maybe he had headed straight back to his condo in DC. She wasn't entirely sure.

It didn't really matter, she thought with a stab of her fork into the congealed rehydrated food, because she was stuck in the other side of the galaxy. Miserable, ironically enough, with the one person she actually would have chosen to be stranded with – it turned out she really was a terrible judge of character. Even Colonel Maybourne would have been preferable to a moody Daniel. Well, almost.

She stole a sideways glance at Daniel. He was picking at his food, despite the fact that he had barely eaten any food that day. His head was slightly pitched downwards, but his gaze locked on her. It looked like he was gearing himself up for another confrontation.

"You know Sam, I just don't understand it."

And she was right.

"I know," she replied in a light voice, "if we had any idea this planet was in for such an intense spring storm, I think we would have packed gloves."

Colonel O'Neill would be proud. He wasn't the only one who could be deliberately obtuse.

"That's not what I mean," Daniel said, and his tone added the 'and you know it.'

She didn't say anything, so he picked up where he left off.

"What I can't I cannot comprehend is why you seem to remember way more from your encounter with Jolinar than you admit to, and you refuse to even consider looking at that, when lives are at stake."

She clenched her jaw. "Daniel, it's not that simple."

"Yes! Yes, it is." He waved his hands in jerky movements. "You're too afraid to take a good look at what happened, and I understand it must have been painful, but you could help Sha're and Skaara, you could _save_ them, and you won't even try. You, more than anyone should understand why that's so important!"

"Daniel, stop-"

"No! I heard you speaking in Goau'ld Sam, why didn't you tell anyone? How much do you actually remember - what did Jolinar tell you? And why, god _why_ won't you tell me where Sha're is?"

"Daniel!" she shouted.

"You're a coward, Sam," Daniel spat out.

The MRE in Sam's hands was vibrating, and Sam turned her head to hide the tears and rage she was trying to fight back.

He grabbed her shoulder. "Answer me, damn it!"

She jerked it back violently. "Don't touch me. Just. Don't. Don't say another word."

She wrapped the blanket tightly around her shoulders and turned her entire body away from Daniel. She could still feel the weight of his entire presence pushing and analysing her. Behind her, she heard what sounded like a quiet sob.

She couldn't do this; she wanted to be far away. She seriously considered pulling on her wet boots and wandering out into the swirling sleet outside. Anything to escape from Daniel's unwavering scrutiny.

God, she really was coward.

The rain just kept pounding down against their tent.

Daniel was flat on his back, his eyes closed and his breathing deep and even. But he was most certainly not sleeping.

Beside him, Sam awoke was a gasp. He turned his head and saw that her hair was wet with perspiration, despite the cold temperature in their tent.

She turned her head towards his, her eyes huge with fear. "Daniel, did you hear something outside?"

"No, I didn't," he replied softly. "It was a nightmare."

She nodded and rolled over to her other side, so that her back was towards him. It took a long time for her breathing to slow down again. He closed his eyes.

The morning crept gradually up onto Sam's awareness. The ground was hard and her feet and ears felt uncomfortably numb with cold. Did her furnace break? In a blind attempt to grab more blankets, her hand jammed into the frozen metal zipper. Ah, sleeping bag. Flooding, raining; a cold planet on which she was marooned and trapped in very close quarters with an overly inquisitive Daniel. Only now did she notice the silence.

The persistent batter of raindrops had ended.

She opened her eyes and turned over. Her muscles felt like blocks of heavy wood, protesting every movement. She had barely been able to sleep the entire night, stuck in a bizarre place where her mind ran around in helpless circles until she just wanted to claw her eyes out in frustration.

She lay on her back for several minutes, trying in vain to pull together strings from her convoluted half dreams. Something in there had seemed so terrifyingly oppressive, a threat she needed to confront before it swept down and consumed her.

She rolled over, wincing when she hit her shoulder. It was nothing more than her fight with Daniel that had her so upset, added to the stress of missing her father's visit. No need to call in Freud.

In the dim light, she saw that Daniel was still asleep, with only his hair sticking out of the top of the bag. She didn't exactly want to face him, but he had to wake up sooner or later. Sam gave his shoulder a push.

"Daniel, wake up." She said, probably more harshly than necessary. But his words still had her profoundly shaken.

He let out a long stream of mumbles and moans.

She pulled on her boots (still damp) and slipped out. Behind her, she heard Daniel's unhappy exclamation when he felt the cold air rush in.

Fog. The entire view was filled with thick wet fog. She couldn't even see that they were near the top of a valley. Holding an arm out, she realized she could barely see two feet away. Well, this wasn't good.

Sam stepped back in the tent and blinked as her eyes to adjust to the dimmer light. She saw that Daniel was sitting up, his glasses sitting askew on his face, his hair rumpled to one side still uncombed. He was looking through one of the packs.

"What are you looking for?"

"There's no coffee left." He scowled.

She forced herself to firmly meet his eyes.

"Well, that's probably the least of our concerns."

He raised two incredulous eyebrows. "Really."

Sam let his statement hang for a few seconds before she continued. "The valley's covered in thick fog. I can't see a thing, so we have no idea if the flood's receded of not."

They both held each other's gaze. Unspoken, they both considered the data in the crystal, the unbearable boredom and tension in their camp, and, for Sam at least, the uncomfortable feeling of being watched.

Sam knew that the reasonable move would probably be to wait for the SGC to make contact. If the flood had receded, the SGC could establish the wormhole and radio through the fog. It was SOP that the SGC would be trying every 24 hours.

But there was the data crystal. This kind of intel wasn't something that could wait for another 24 hours if at all avoidable. Apophis's attempt to take Earth by ship was all too recent a memory in her mind. Had it not been for the interdimensional mirror, Earth would have been utterly defenceless – and even then, it had been far too close for comfort.

Sam made her decision.

"I'm going to go down and see if the gate's clear yet."


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Thanks for the nice reviews. They're very encouraging, particularly in getting sufficient motivation to write about a spring storm while I'm baking in 40 degrees celsius. The next part should be up in about 2 weeks again.

**Part Five**

The fog hung heavy in every direction, casting the landscape around her in a dim monochromatic light. She had with her a day pack, her jacket, an additional jacket for warmth and also her rain poncho should the rain start falling again.

Everything was eerily quiet now that the rain had stopped falling. She could hear faint dripping and the rustling of plants heavy with moisture, but all those sounds were thin and spread out. In contrast, her footfalls and breathing seemed deafening. Each breath pushed out a puff of mist.

Her radio remained close at hand, but silent. Daniel had the other side, and apart from their rote check-ins every fifteen minutes, they had barely spoken three words to each other since waking. Also, as a precaution, Sam toted along her MP-5.

She knew it was almost certainly only Daniel and herself left on this isolated slough, but she couldn't help remembering the crashed ship. An exciting find, absolutely. But it also cast into doubt their earlier theory about this planet being far too remote to be visited by ship.

Sam shook her head. No one could have possibly survived a crash as horrific as the one that resulted in the warped pile of metal they'd found. She was simply getting a little paranoid after so many days in tight quarters with Daniel staring straight into her brain, ad having absolutely nothing to do.

Sam's feet slid against the thick mud beneath her, and it felt like every step forward she slipped exactly the same distance backwards. It reminded her or sand, oddly enough. And sand made her think of Abydos, and Sha're and god-damn, she was out here to complete a task. She could sort this all out later.

The downhill journey was slow going, surreal almost. She kept an eye out for stray branches and sudden drops and depressions in the ground. There was a steady wind blowing against her face, and her ears were stinging with cold.

Next time, she needed to get stranded on a tropical beach. With Teal'c.

---

Daniel sat in the tent, unexpectedly lonely. He pulled an extra blanket closer around his shoulders and wished very bitterly for a warm hat. He may have been on the verge of shaking Sam into some sense, but nonetheless he appreciated he her presence.

He probably had ruined their friendship forever by pressing the issue last night. But then again, what else was he supposed to do? He only hoped that he hadn't made her even more resistant than before to the idea of confronting her memories. He hated the pain he had caused Sam, but he couldn't bring himself to regret it.

He gently pressed against his injured ankle, pleased to see that most of the swelling was gone, and it didn't cause him too much pain. At least he'd be able to get himself back to the gate, whenever the water decided to go down.

Behind him, he heard a faint shuffling sound. He turned his head and listened closely. Was it one of those giant squirrels? Or maybe it was something a bit larger and more carnivorous. He reached for his berretta and felt an extra pang for Sam's presence.

There, he heard it again. Branches swaying and the ground squishing. With his gun ready, Daniel Jackson quietly pulled on his boots, and opened up the tent zipper. Peering outwards, he looked for the source of the sound. All he could see was fog.

Unsettled, he realized anything could be mere feet away, and he wouldn't know it. Teal'c might, be he certainly wouldn't. He ducked back into the tent making as little sound as possible and decided he was safest staying inside.

---

Sam reached the edge of the water far sooner than she expected. The fog was so thick, she still couldn't see the gate, but taking in account how high she still was on the valley wall the gate was definitely still submerged.

"Fuck." She said aloud, knowing no one would hear her.

The data crystal was important, but right now all she thinking about was her father flying back to DC alone, thinking that his only daughter had simply found something better to do than see him. Irrationally, he eyes filled tears and she rapidly blinked them away. The biting wind helped.

She turned on a heel and headed back uphill for camp. With Daniel, and his new favourite game to twenty questions. She felt frustration tight in her gut, just begging to claw its way out. She clenched her jaw and reached for her radio to break the news to Daniel.

A heavy drop of water fell on her head, and slid down the front of her face.

Rain. It was more rain. What else could have been appropriate?

Halfway back and one more radio check later the rain started to feel heavier. Each drop impacted her head and shoulders like little rocks. Sam held out her hand and wasn't surprised to see thick sleet falling instead of water. She sighed. There was no way she could get back to camp any faster.

Less than five minutes later Sam found herself struggling to take a single step and remain upright. Her feet slid on virtually every piece of ground. Every step uphill led to a farther slip downhill. She was panting from exertion, her face still frozen but her body uncomfortably warm. Sweat fell down the small of her back and became icy when it reached the edge of her jacket.

With dogged persistence, she managed to make some progress. She was closer to camp, but it was taking her nearly five times longer than it normally would.

Something soft hit her nearly numb cheek. She peered up into the uniformly grey sky. Billions of flakes slowly drifted downwards. She hung her head. Going to see if the gate was uncovered was not one of her brightest ideas.

---

Daniel was cold.

He was curled up and shivering, waiting for Sam to check in by radio. He didn't regret what he said to Sam last night, but perhaps it hadn't been the right time and place. His words driven her out of their camp, he knew this for certain. Part of him might have even wanted to push her out.

Sam faced most challenges with confidence and enthusiasm, but where her emotional self-awareness was concerned, she was the master of avoidance. He had known exactly how she would respond.

He should never have called her a coward. Not while trapped on a planet, at the very least. He needed to apologize, help her understand. The more he thought about it, the more guilty he felt.

Daniel grabbed for his radio. The next scheduled check in was in less than five minutes, but this couldn't wait.

"Sam this is Daniel. Come in?"

He waited a beat. And then another, longer one.

Frowning, he tried again. "Sam? Sam can you hear me? Please respond."

There was an immeasurable silence, every second pushing a little more dread into Daniel's chest.

"Sam! Sam, please respond!"

Nothing. Damn.

He pulled on as many pieces of dry clothing as he could find, and slipped on three pairs of socks, one pair which by their size, must have originated from Teal'c supplies.

Once he was fully dressed he grabbed a flashlight, a small day pack, and his Berretta. For the oversized squirrels he told himself.

He stepped outside of the tent, gingerly putting weight on his injured ankle. It felt sore, but mostly alright. It would do.

The moment he stepped clear of the cave walls, he was hit was a frigid wind and a flurry of snowflakes. He slammed his eyes shut in response. When had it started snowing? Squinting, he noticed that every inch of the visible area around him was cloaked in a thin layer of white.

He was never very good with snow. Maybe there was just interference, and Sam was fine.

Daniel tried the radio again. "Sam, can you hear me?"

His response was a wailing gust of wind.

Sam had told him her general route and her location during the last radio check in. He knew she wasn't too far away, but finding her in this flurry was going to be a challenge.

It took him nearly fifteen minutes to slide his way down to where he thought Sam would be. The hem of his pants was drenched in wet snow and the moisture spread up to the back of his knees. Ice slid down the sides of his face and into his eyes.

Despite the chaotic snowfall, the entire world was absolutely silent. Dreamlike.

"Sam?" He yelled. His voice reverberated around the valley faintly.

He trudged down a particularly steep pass, his arms reaching along several large tree trunks for balance.

"Sam?" He tried again, louder. Nothing but echoes in response.

He paused to take a good look around him. Heavy snow pressed down on all of the recently budded trees, and the ground was caked with ice, tiny rivulets throughout with ice water running through in streams.

No sign of her.

He descended further into the valley, hoping that he hadn't missed her.

He kept his eyes on the ground for the most part, in a hopeless attempt to find the most solid footing. In his peripheral vision, he noticed an unusual looking depression in the wet slush. He took a closer look, and wiping some slush away with his hand he found himself staring at Sam's MP-5.

"No," He jumped back. "No, no..."

"Sam!"

Paying no attention to the slush, he fell to his knees and started pushing snow and slush aside. Almost immediately he hit something heavy. An arm. His hands shook as he pushed away more snow and he followed her arm up to find her the rest of her, her upper body only covered by a very thin layer of snow. She had been just out of his line of sight, obscured by a slight rise in the ground.

His numbed fingers reached for her neck and immediately he found a pulse. It was a little slow, but definitely present. He sighed with relief. Touching her face with one hand, he gently shook her shoulder with his other.

"Sam, wake up." He said in a clear voice.

A stray snowflake stuck to an eyelash as she slowly blinked her eyes open.

Daniel noticed that one side of her hair was matted with darkened blood. The slush underneath was stained light pink. She'd lost her footing on the ice, he surmised. Oh god, did she have a neck or back injury? What would he do then?

She definitely had a head injury and hypothermia, and he knew she wasn't going to be coherent.

How was he going to get her back to camp? He couldn't carry her – he could barely keep his balance alone with all this sleet. It was too cold, and she'd already been out here too long. He realized there wasn't time to take any precautions; he just needed to somehow get her back up to camp.

If he could just get her awake enough to lean on his shoulder and walk.

"Get up Sam. We have to go." He shook her shoulder roughly.

She made some unintelligible mumbles and slowly opened her eyes.

"Common, let's get up." He lifted her upper body so she was in a sitting position, only now becoming aware that both he and Sam were completely drenched. She leaned completely against him, her head hanging against her chest.

"Sam, wake up. SAM."

"Wha?" He heard her mutter.

"We need to get back to camp." He explained.

"M'tired." Her body relaxed.

Now that Daniel had stopped moving he was feeling the cold seeping deep inside of him. His fingers were already numb, and he had no doubt that he was already in the starting stages of hypothermia himself. There had to be a way to get Sam back to camp. He just had to think, and he'd come to a solution.

Carry her. No that wouldn't work, the ground was too icy and his ankle was still fragile. He couldn't get her to stand up so they could both stagger back to camp either. So then...

"Captain!" He shouted, inwardly wincing. "Get the hell up off you ass right now."

She immediately stiffened. "Sir?"

Daniel channelled his inner Jack O'Neill. The words felt awkward on his tongue and startling to his ears. "Officers don't sleep on the job. What are you, a helpless child?"

Sam groped awkwardly at his arm, stiffly trying to rise. Her eyes looked scattered and exhausted, but defiant. "N-no s'r? No…."

She didn't sound very certain, but muscles trembled fiercely in an attempt to stand up. He supported her weight, her one shoulder slung around his. Suddenly Daniel noticed he was violently shivering, and he wondered how he could have failed to notice that until now.

It took a significant amount of time to get them both to their feet. He found himself stunned that his stupid plan had worked, but thankful.

Painstakingly, they made their way up the valley.


End file.
